Tell Apple, Amazon, Microsoft you want a cleaner cloud

Every day, our lives revolve more and more around the phenomenon that is "the cloud." We check our e-mail, store our music, and share photos and status updates. It’s a key part of how we connect with our friends and family.

But have you ever stopped to wonder… where does the cloud actually exist?

It turns out the companies that give us the cloud keep all that data in huge warehouses called data centers, and those use lots of electricity, much of which comes from dirty, dangerous energy like coal and nuclear power. This problem is growing fast. We found that if the cloud were its own country, it would rank fifth in the world for how much electricity it uses, and that electricity demand will triple by 2020!

Thankfully, our growing cloud could actually be a really good thing for the planet. The cloud could be powered by clean energy, not coal. We’re already seeing companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook lead the way by moving toward powering their clouds with clean energy, partly in thanks to you.

But other companies haven't gotten the message yet. Today Greenpeace International released a report that shows that Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are powering their growing 21st-century clouds with dirty, 19th-century coal energy.